‘NEWS” ARTICLES are supposed to be factual and unbiased. What you have written instead is a full-page advertisement for mountain biking (March 13).

It is very hard to find anything good about mountain biking, ESPECIALLY for young people. It is a very dangerous sport. People regularly die from it, or get seriously injured and disabled. On Sept. 23, 2000, a mountain bike race was held in Briones Regional Park (see http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/ebrpd16). A 37-year-old man crashed and was in a coma for a long time. He ended up brain damaged. And divorced. Even your article admits to three separate instances of broken bones.

Mountain biking is too expensive for young people, so that they are tempted to use a bike that’s weak and unsafe. You mentioned that they get up at 5 a.m. to go to races (at Folsom!), but you neglected to point out that the REASON for that is that no land manager in the Bay Area is willing to permit such a destructive activity to take place on the land that they are responsible for! And for good reason: mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, and drives wildlife and other trail users away. And worst of all, it teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is acceptable. It’s NOT!

For the science on mountain biking impacts, see http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb7.

Mike Vandeman

San Ramon

‘Unfit’ not

fit to read

ITHINK that the comic strip “Unfit” is truly named correctly.

It is simply unfit and inappropriate. Not only that, it is on an outside cover page of a given section.

It is unfit, not uplifting, and inappropriate for family reading. Certainly not clever.

"There is a general recognition that we don't need these military-style weapons in New Zealand, so it's very easy to win cross-party support for this," said Mark Mitchell, who was defense minister in the previous, center-right government and who supports the ban initiated by the center-left-led Labour Party.